


Does anyone of you have any service?

by Kokoskwark



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cooking Lessons, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Insecurity, Lee Minho | Lee Know Is Bad at Feelings, Lee Minho | Lee Know is Whipped, Light Angst, M/M, Magical Realism, Minho has a tough time, Mutual Pining, Power Outage, Seo Changbin is Bad at Feelings, Seo Changbin is Whipped, Small mention of blood, Sweet Lee Minho | Lee Know, Sweet Seo Changbin, Thunderstorms, Time Loop, author projects her astronomy knowledge on chan and jisung again, chan and jisung are geniuses but it doesnt help, it's pretty serious but sometimes i try to throw in some humor, kind of, minho is afraid of thunderstorms, sappy and soft last chapter bc it's me, they have a fight but its quickly resolved, theyre both oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:22:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28916055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kokoskwark/pseuds/Kokoskwark
Summary: On a particularly stormy day with a power outage, Minho and Changbin somehow get stuck in a time loop, and they're the only ones of their friends that are aware of that. They have no idea how to get out, and that's slowly taking a toll on their sanity, especially since Minho hates and is scared of thunderstorms.In the situation they also both do their best to hide their feelings for the other, but they can't hide them forever, eventually, someone is bound to snap.
Relationships: Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin
Comments: 36
Kudos: 47





	1. The L in 'love' doesn't stand for 'logical'

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys!! After my last fic, which kind of gave off time loopy vibes, I thought why not write an actual time loop fic? so here it is! Enjoy!!
> 
> I'll probably update every other day because my studies are starting again!
> 
> Also, English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes or weird sentences!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey, does anyone of you have service?” Seungmin came into the common room, moving around with his phone. “There’s probably a power outage because of the storm, so probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to check.” 
> 
> Okay, that was also the exact same thing as he said yesterday… Was Seungmin in on the prank or was this day actually repeating itself? Minho checked his phone first to see if he had any service, which he didn’t, but then he noticed the date— that was yesterday. 
> 
> “What the hell…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit longer bc we have the introduction and stuff! Enjoy!

_Boom!_ Minho shot up in his bed, heart hammering in his chest from the scare. _What the hell was that?_ He thought, looking around when he heard the sound of rain almost _slamming_ against the windows and the wind howling. It was storming like crazy and he wondered what time it was since it was almost pitch-black outside. _08:11, Changbin time,_ his phone announced and he sighed, that was earlier than he liked, but he guessed he wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore if it was storming like this. Minho hated storms because he hated loud noises, but luckily it seemed like the lightning had moved further away again. 

He got up and headed to the bathroom to wash up, but the light didn’t turn on. _Hmm. Power outage?_ That probably meant he couldn’t shower and charge his phone and stuff, so Minho was happy that he had done that yesterday evening already. Nevertheless he took his time to wash his face and put on some warm clothes because there probably wouldn’t be any heating until the power would come back on who knows when. 

He then went to grab some stuff from his fridge that would expire soon to eat for breakfast and headed out to the hall slash common room to see if anyone else was there and if there was more information as to what was going on. 

He opened his door to see a dimly lit hall where it was slightly warmer than in his room, interesting. Minho guessed they used the generator for the halls because heating every room would take more electricity and the storm didn’t seem like it would let up soon. Minho sat down on one of the couches, curled up to keep himself warm and slowly ate his breakfast. Maybe after his breakfast he would go out to ask about more information, but right now he didn’t feel like it.

Not much later, Jeongin came to join him and sat down on one of the chairs with a sigh. “Did you wake up with a boom too?” He asked. “Do you think that’s what caused the power outage?”

“Yeah, I woke up with that too.” Minho nodded and shrugged after. “Could be the cause of the power outage, but maybe it was already before that.”

Jeongin nodded in agreement and pulled out his breakfast to munch on that slowly too. “I hope it gets fixed soon.” 

Minho hummed and his eye caught Seungmin entering the common room while squinting at his phone.

“Hey, does anyone of you have service?” He asked, moving around with his phone. “There’s probably a power outage because of the storm, so probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to check.” 

The other two got their phones out, but indeed Minho saw that he had no service, so he shook his head.

“You have no service either?” Jeongin asked and looked at Seungmin. “Me neither.”

“Okay, I’ll go and ask about the power outage downstairs and then I’ll go ask the rest if they have any service.” Seungmin said and walked away.

_Okay, one less thing to do for me._

* * *

Changbin was woken up by knocking on his door. He groaned and had the urge to ask his roommate to get the door, but remembered he was away for the short break, so he yelled a ‘coming’ before slowly getting up and looking through the peephole to see a vague silhouette. _Okay?_ He opened the door to see Seungmin standing outside in the dimly lit hall.

“Seungmin? What’s going on? Why is it so dark?” Changbin asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His phone said it was _09:22,_ _Seungmin time! What a coincidence, the thunder was at Changbin time._ Changbin had fallen asleep after the boom, though, because he thought it was too early to wake up.

“Apparently there’s a power outage or something because of the storm, and we wanted to ask if you had any service, because we don’t.” Seungmin explained, checking his phone and moving it around.

Changbin did the same, but it seemed like he didn’t have any service either. “No, no luck here either.”

Seungmin shrugged, pressing his lips together and pocketed his phone. “They said they’re working on it and used the generator to light up and heat up the halls a little, but they don’t know how long it’s going to take. So that means no hot water, wifi, heating, or other electricity, but we should still be able to cook if we light the gas stoves with a lighter or something. And it’s cold enough that we don’t have to move our food out of the fridge.” 

At that, Changbin involuntarily shivered and noticed that his room indeed felt cold. “Okay, thanks.” He nodded and rubbed his arms a bit. “So we’re all hanging out in the hall slash common room?”

Seungmin nodded and patted a hand on Changbin’s shoulder. “Yup, at least until the power’s back on. There may be a little heating, but still dress warmly, okay?”

“Will do.” Changbin saluted and closed the door as Seungmin left.

  
  


He changed into some warm clothing, washed his face, and prepared some sandwiches with the spreads that would expire the soonest before he went to sit on one of the couches in the hall. He saw that Minho and Jeongin were already there, eating some breakfast as Changbin plopped down next to Minho. 

"Yo." Minho greeted him and Jeongin waved as he had his mouth full of food. 

"Yo." Changbin greeted back and looked around. "Where's the rest?" 

The floor of the dorm where they lived had five rooms, but Minho and Changbin's roommates were gone for the break so they should be with eight of them. 

"Seungmin is filling them in right now." Jeongin explained after swallowing his food, and he shivered. "It's not that much warmer here than in the rooms huh? I'm gonna get a blanket." 

Minho looked at Changbin then and eyed his clothes. "Are you cold?" 

Changbin shook his head, he had already put on warm enough clothes. An extra blanket sounded nice, but he felt too lazy to go get one, and he wasn't really cold. 

"No, you have enough fat to keep you warm huh? I’m so jealous." The older's previously blank expression changed into a smug one and Changbin gasped and lightly pushed him. 

Of course Minho would change a concerned question into an opportunity to tease, but at least he cared enough to ask, and Changbin knew Minho only liked the fact that he was a little chubby, so it still made Changbin feel a bit warmer. 

They continued to eat their breakfast in peaceful silence until the rest joined them and Felix brought candles to light which they placed on the coffee table between the couches. Jisung had brought blankets for everyone too, so now Changbin, Minho and Jisung were sharing two blankets on one couch, Seungmin, Hyunjin and Felix the same on the other couch, and Chan and Jeongin had their own blanket on the two armchairs. 

"It doesn't look like the storm is going to let up any time soon, huh?" Chan commented when another flash of lightning illuminated the room. A few seconds later, the distant sound of thunder was heard and Chan pulled out his phone. "Although, it's only 10:25 in the morning—" 

_Boom!_ Another bright flash but now simultaneously with a deafening thunder strike, and Changbin jumped out of his skin as he heard multiple screams and yelps. He felt the two sitting next to him grab him while he blindly ducked to the side to protect himself too. 

He looked up to see a trembling Minho holding on to him and hiding his head in Changbin's chest. Changbin's heart skipped a beat at the sight, but he quickly willed away the feeling again. He was reminded that Jisung had been holding on to him too when the younger slowly let go and chuckled breathily at his friends. 

"Hey, Minho, you okay?—" Changbin began, but stopped when Minho froze and quickly shot back. 

"Yes— yes, I'm fine." He breathed, but didn't look at Changbin. Changbin was glad he didn't, because he didn't want the other to see his pink cheeks, but he guessed he wouldn't be able to anyway in this dim lighting. 

He knew Minho absolutely hated loud sounds and thunder, so he didn't really get why he acted like nothing was wrong, but he quickly forgot about it again when they continued their conversation, although his heart kept harshly pounding for longer than it would have if it had only been from the shock. 

  
  


Time ticked away as they talked and joked around and some, including Changbin, got a little more sleep, lulled to dreamland by the sound of the rain. When he woke up, he noticed that he had been lying on Minho’s shoulder.

“Sorry.” He mumbled and straightened himself as Minho shot him a blank look, although slightly different than his usual one, a little softer. “You could’ve pushed me off.”

Minho shrugged and looked forward again. “You’re soft, so.” 

That caught Changbin off guard and he buried himself a bit deeper under the blanket to hide his embarrassment. He both hated and loved Minho’s teasing. He hated it because it was just teasing, it was just a joke, but he loved it because there was a small part of him that hoped that the jokes had some element of truth to them and because he got to live in his own fantasy of believing that Minho really felt that way. 

  
  


Despite the situation they were in, they managed to make the time go by fast by playing games and fooling around, basically forgetting about the storm and the power outage. In the evening it still seemed the storm wasn’t letting up and the power wouldn’t come back on for the remainder of the day.

“What should we do for dinner?” Chan asked. “I’m getting kind of hungry.”

“Should we just order? I don’t want to go back to the cold room and prepare something…” Jeongin sighed. “Most of us can’t even cook properly.”

“But should we let a poor delivery person go through this storm? That should be illegal. And none of us have any service.” Felix frowned and looked outside to see the trees sway violently in the wind. “I think we should have enough in our dorms, so if you guys donate some rice and ingredients, I’ll cook something. Else it might spoil anyway.”

“Oh, I’ll help.” Minho said and stood up and Chan did the same, saying he’ll help too. 

“Me too, I’m getting kinda hot sitting here the whole day anyway.” Hyunjin chuckled and went with the other three to cook, Minho already taking the lead in dividing the roles. 

Changbin admired the fact that his friends were so helpful, because if he was honest, he couldn’t really do a lot on his own chores-wise, especially cooking, so he was always grateful when one or more of his friends would offer to cook for him so that he wouldn’t eat take out every day. What made it even better was that his friends could cook simple yet delicious meals, especially Felix, Minho and Chan. Felix was also a fan of baking sweets, but his dinner meals weren’t bad at all, and if Minho would put in some time he could really make amazing meals as well. _He would make a good husband,_ was the thought that invaded Changbin’s head and he couldn’t help but imagine himself to be the lucky spouse. He quickly shook his head to get rid of the thoughts, though, because somehow he felt a little guilty about them.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?~” Jisung singsonged and Changbin jumped a little in surprise. “Hi, Bin. Yes, you were, in fact, sharing a couch with _two people_ , now _one person_!” He made an overly happy face at Changbin and Changbin chuckled awkwardly.

“I knew that, of course.” He breathed, but Jisung kept grinning at him. 

“Whatever you say.” The younger said in a fake sweet voice. “Were you perhaps thinking about our lost couchmate?”

Changbin heard Jeongin snort from the chair as he rolled his eyes to try to hide his warm cheeks. "I was just thinking about how they often cook for us and that that's nice." 

"Yeah I can relate." Jisung sighed but shot him a look again, raising one eyebrow. "But is that all?" 

"Huh? Why?" Changbin tried to act confused, but Jisung probably noticed that he was acting. 

“Oh come on, Bin, you were, like, staring and you shook your head!” Jisung exclaimed as if it was obvious. “Why would you shake your head if you were thinking grateful thoughts?”

“Uhm— yeah, I was just thinking, uhm, selfish thoughts you know?” Changbin stuttered. He wasn’t convincing at all. “About how I wouldn’t mind if they cooked for me every day, you know?” That wasn’t strictly a lie, Changbin guessed, so he went with it. 

“You thought about marrying all of them?!” Jeongin gasped from his chair and he heard Seungmin and Jisung snicker at the youngest. _Well, he isn’t wrong about the marrying part…_ Changbin thought, but he didn’t want to think about that anymore, that brought too many other feelings. 

“It could’ve also been that he thought about hiring or enslaving them or something, but I like the marrying hypothesis too.” Jisung laughed and high-fived Jeongin. “And? Are we right, Bin?”

“No, I didn’t think about marrying or hiring or _enslaving_ all of them so that they would cook for me.” Changbin just said simply, hoping they would let it go. 

“One of them, then?—” 

“So, how’s it going with our hard workers here?” Minho saved Changbin’s life basically as he came to lean on the chair Jeongin was sitting on. “We’re doing great, by the way. It’s going to be the best meal you’ve ever had.”

“Well, Changbin was thinking about marrying all of you to get you to cook for him everyday—”

“I just said I _wasn’t!_ ” Changbin cut Jeongin off, who was turned to Minho now. He felt like he was overheating from embarrassment.

“Something similar to that, whatever.” The youngest shrugged. 

“Maybe only one or two of you.” Jisung added.

Minho shot a surprised but smug look at Changbin and Changbin already anticipated whatever teasing or embarrassing comments were about to come. 

"Oh, but if Changbin would marry _me_ , I would force him to learn to cook for himself, or at least crack an egg without letting it fall." He winked at Changbin and the younger malfunctioned slightly, feeling flustered. "Although, that was the egg's fault, wasn't it?" Minho chuckled fake sweetly but it still sent Changbin's heart into overdrive. It was only teasing, why wouldn't his heart understand that? 

"You say that as if you don't cook for anyone who even implies that they're hungry." Jisung grinned as Minho scoffed, but Jisung was right, Minho was like that, although he wouldn't admit that seriously. 

"I never said I wouldn't cook, but if he wants to marry me, he would first have to work for it." Minho shrugged, inspecting his hand. He said it in a softer and less challenging way than Changbin would have expected, as if he was slightly insecure about it, but that couldn't be, right? Changbin was probably imagining things because of his flustered state. 

"I guess he's better off marrying Felix, then, he would do anything for us without expecting anything in return." Seungmin said, with which the rest agreed. "Well, you probably wouldn't even have to marry him for that." 

"Yeah, okay, but bringing up Felix isn't fair, he's an angel." Jeongin snickered. "Although, Chan would probably be better to marry too." 

"Okay, I see that I'm _obviously_ not part of the one or two marriage options." Minho put up his hands in defense, and Changbin had the urge to correct him. "Anyway, I'll go resume making food for ungrateful children again. Bye." 

As Minho left, everyone’s eyes went to Changbin again and Changbin sighed. 

“So, is it Chan or is it Felix?” Jeongin raised his eyebrows at him and Changbin cursed the fact that he was so teasable. Usually he didn’t mind because it made his friends laugh, but now… Well, his crush on Minho would also make his friends laugh, but telling his friends meant more chance for Minho to find out, and that would be bad. 

“What about Hyunjin? Have we just forgotten about him?” Seungmin asked. “Although, he would never cook for Changbin. He rarely cooks so I don’t even know how he’s pretty good at it.” 

“And who says it can’t be Minho?” Jisung joined in, crossing his arms. “He forgot that _I,_ his best bro, existed because he was sharing a couch with Minho! And the L in ‘love’ doesn’t stand for ‘logical’.”

Seungmin and Jeongin now joined Jisung in looking at Changbin with an interested and intense expression and Changbin felt even smaller than he already was. They kept their gazes on him for a minute or two before Seungmin nodded as if Changbin had said anything.

“I see.” He said.

“What?” Jeongin asked. “Can you suddenly read minds?” 

“No, but the fact that he’s silent and not denying anything means that he thought about one or more of them, but not all of them, cooking for him every day.” Seungmin observed as if Changbin was a psychological test subject. “And looking at his flusteredness, it might have been in a romantic context.”

At that, Jeongin and Jisung raised their eyebrows and grinned at him, and the staring began again and Changbin just wanted to get out of here. He knew his friends wouldn’t pry or force him to say things he didn’t want to, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t tease him until he would overheat. 

Luckily the cooking crew came to save him, again, because their dinner was ready, so they cleared the coffee table, placed the pans and plates on it and went to sit around it on the floor. 

“Oh, this smells heavenly!” Jisung exclaimed and Changbin agreed, because his mouth was watering. 

“Credits to Minho for the idea to cook this.” Chan clapped Minho on his shoulder.

“Credits to the rest for executing it this well.” Minho grinned. “Hyunjin was slaying that meat.”

They snorted at the comment and all eagerly began stuffing their plates with the hot food, which was especially welcome on this stormy day. 

“Can someone pass me some meat?” Changbin asked, his damned short arms couldn’t reach it. And of course Minho had to sit at the most convenient spot to reach both the meat and Changbin, and Changbin started to regret the choice of sitting next to Minho at the beginning of the day. 

“Sure, how much—” Minho said, but stopped mid-move and raised an eyebrow at him. “Or do you want your dream husband to do that for you?” 

“Guys…” Changbin whined as Felix, Hyunjin and Chan shot him confused looks. “Just let it go, I wasn’t _seriously_ thinking.”

“Seriously thinking what?” Felix asked. “Oh, the husband that cooks for you joke?”

Changbin pouted and nodded, crossing his arms. 

“Okay, okay, sorry.” Minho laughed and continued his journey to pick up some meat for the pouting boy. “Here, would some meat make Binnie happier?”

Changbin huffed, but let Minho feed him a piece of meat. Minho’s chuckles as Changbin seemed to relax while eating the meat made his heart flutter and he would almost call them fond if he didn’t know Minho was probably just amused by his childish behavior. Then Minho grabbed another few pieces to place on Changbin’s plate until Changbin signalled it was enough. He appreciated that it went without any more comments, because, although he knew Minho liked feeding his friends in general, it had felt oddly domestic to Changbin. 

All the embarrassment and wanting to hide had made Changbin feel exhausted, so after he and the rest of the not-cooking crew had cleaned up and washed the dishes, he went straight to his cold room where he dove into bed under the cold covers. Unfortunately, the cold and his thoughts didn’t cause him to fall asleep quickly, and the thunderstorm that was still raging on wasn’t helping either. Eventually his exhaustion won over his thoughts and Changbin fell into a dreamless sleep. 

* * *

_Boom!_ Minho shot up in his bed, heart hammering in his chest from the scare. Since when had he been sleeping? _And it’s_ still _storming?_ The last thing he remembered was that he had trouble sleeping because of the thunder and because he couldn’t stop thinking about Changbin, but apparently he had fallen asleep eventually. 

He checked his phone to see the time. _08:11, Changbin time,_ it announced. _Again? Wow, thunder must be a fan of Changbin,_ Minho thought as he slowly sat up. He guessed he wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore if it was still storming, which he hated because he hadn’t slept as much as he had wanted. At least he wasn’t actively thinking about Changbin anymore.

He had tried to figure out whether Jisung, Jeongin and Seungmin had been serious about Changbin thinking about someone cooking for him every day, and if they were, who it might be. Of course with only thinking about it he didn’t come very far, and they had hinted to the fact that it _wasn’t_ him, so he was actually basically only making himself miserable, because even if Changbin _had_ been thinking about him, he probably only wanted it because he couldn’t cook. 

_Okay, enough thinking about things you can’t get,_ he thought and stood up to go wash his face, maybe take a shower because he couldn’t yesterday. When he tried to turn on the light in the bathroom, though, nothing happened. _Damn, still no power?_ He guessed that since the storm was still going, maybe they couldn’t do anything, but Minho would like to shower some time soon, even though he didn’t feel as dirty as he thought he would. And if they still didn’t have any service, they couldn’t order anything so they either had to go out to get more food, or they had to starve.

When he opened the fridge to get some food, it seemed fuller than it did after yesterday evening. He could’ve sworn he had used up and thrown away a few of these things yesterday, because they would expire soon and they had cooked with it. Something was off, had someone refilled his fridge during the night? Why the hell would someone do that? And in the storm? Or had that stopped for an hour or something? Either way Minho decided to have the same breakfast as yesterday and go to the hall to see if there the power was back on. 

Unfortunately, Minho was met with the same sight as yesterday, a dimly lit hall where it was only slightly warmer than in his room. He sat on the couch on the same spot and slowly ate his breakfast, curled up on the couch with his blanket. 

After a while, Jeongin came to join him and sat down on one of the chairs with a sigh. “Did you wake up with a boom too?” He asked and eyed Minho’s blanket for a moment. “Do you think that’s what caused the power outage?”

Minho got a major deja vu, that was exactly what Jeongin asked yesterday.

“Again? Could be, but I think they just never fixed it from yesterday, though.” Minho shrugged. “You didn’t bring your blanket?”

Jeongin looked at him with wide confused eyes and frowned a little. “From yesterday? But yesterday there wasn’t a power outage, right? No, I took a shower and charged my phone and all.”

Minho frowned back at him, was he playing a prank? “Oh, come on, Innie, I’m not gonna fall for that. I know the thunder struck at the exact same time as yesterday and today seems like the literal same day, but I’m not as naive as Hyunjin. It would be funny to try that joke on him, though.”

Jeongin’s face turned even more confused. “What the heck are you talking about, Minho? Are _you_ pranking _me_?”

“No? I—” 

“Hey, does anyone of you have service?” Seungmin came into the common room, moving around with his phone. “There’s probably a power outage because of the storm, so probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to check.” 

_Okay, that was also the exact same thing as he said yesterday…_ Was Seungmin in on the prank or was this day actually repeating itself? Minho checked his phone first to see if he had any service, which he didn’t, but then he noticed the date— _that was yesterday._

“What the hell…” He muttered and stared at his phone in disbelief.

“You have no service either?” Jeongin asked and looked at Seungmin. “Me neither.”

“Okay, I’ll go and ask about the power outage downstairs and then I’ll go ask the rest if they have any service.” Seungmin said and walked away before Minho could stop him because he could already tell him what was going on.

He checked the settings on his phone a few times to see if he indeed had automatic time and date on, which he did, and turned it off and on, but still the date was the one of yesterday. _Is it because we didn’t have any service? No that doesn’t make sense._

“Jeongin give me your phone for a sec.” He urged and Jeongin’s confused look returned, but he complied. The younger’s phone also gave the same date. 

That gave Minho a few options. One, he could be dreaming all of this, two, he could have gone insane, three, this could be some elaborate prank that his friends were pulling, or he was really experiencing this day _again_. He gave the phone back and Jeongin looked at him questioningly.

“What did you want with it?”

“Jeongin, just between you and me, you really don’t remember yesterday?” Minho asked in a hushed voice, he felt like a paranoid conspiracy theorist. “Like, we can work together to pull a prank in a prank and blow everyone’s minds. How does that sound? We could prank _Seungmin_ the unprankable.”

Jeongin pulled a face and leaned away a little from Minho, his frown deepening. “Minho, I _honestly_ don’t know what you’re talking about and it’s creepy. I mean, you’re a cryptid in general, but now you’re _really_ being weird. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I’m not playing a prank on you, and I don’t think anyone else is either.” He shivered and stood up. “Having said that, your idea of bringing a blanket is a good one, so I’ll get one too.” 

Minho watched the younger walk away feeling flabbergasted. It seemed like Jeongin was telling the truth, well, _his_ truth at least because Minho sure as hell remembered yesterday. He guessed that the fact that Jeongin was getting a blanket earlier than yesterday— _than the first time?_ — was a good thing for his sanity.

Jeongin returned and plopped on the chair again and stared at Minho for a while. “Are you okay, Minho..?”

Minho looked at Jeongin’s genuine eyes and again realized that Jeongin really didn’t know what was going on. 

“Yeah, sure, I’m fine, because I’m either dreaming— _ow!_ — okay, probably _not_ dreaming, or I’m crazy, or I’m reliving this day and I’m the only one that knows.” He sighed and saw Seungmin come back to knock on Changbin’s door, which was the closest to the staircase.

Jeongin just gaped at him. “You think you’re reliving this day?”

“Yeah, the lightning slash thunder was at exactly the same time as yesterday, my food is back in my fridge since yesterday, you and Seungmin don’t seem to remember the power outage and storm, and you and Seungmin have said stuff _exactly_ the same as yesterday too.”

Jeongin’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something, but Seungmin, as expected, came to fill them in that there indeed was a power outage.

“Hey, guys, Changbin, who was acting a bit weird, at least has no service either and they said that they’re working on the power and they used the generator to—”

“—to light up and heat up the halls a little, but they don’t know how long it’s going to take. So that means no hot water, wifi, heating, or other electricity, but we should still be able to cook if we light the gas stoves with a lighter or something. And it’s cold enough that we don’t have to move our food out of the fridge. Yeah, I know.” Minho sped through his words and waved the other off, who looked at him exasperated.

“He says that he’s reliving this day.” Jeongin explained to Seungmin who scoffed. “Really, he says the power outage and stuff has already happened yesterday, and that the boom this morning was at the exact same time.”

“He’s just pranking you, Innie.” Seungmin waved off. “You know that time travel movies always have storms when something weird happens, right?”

“I’m not pranking!” Minho exclaimed. “But wait— did you say Changbin was acting weird? Maybe he knows I’m right too! Did he say anything about that?” He was kind of desperate to have _someone_ back him up, because he knew his friends wouldn’t believe him easily. Seungmin also hadn’t mentioned Changbin’s weird behavior yesterday while Changbin and Seungmin both shouldn’t have been affected significantly if Minho was the only ‘difference’ compared to yesterday. _Unless this is due to some weird butterfly effect?_

“Yeah, he was still a bit sleepy, but he said something about that there _still_ was no service and he looked at me all confused when I began about the power outage, but he didn’t really say anything else.” Seungmin shrugged. “I told him to put on something warm and maybe bring a blanket when he didn’t speak for like a minute and then he muttered something like ‘blanket?’ before he closed the door on me.”

Minho nodded slowly. That pointed to that Changbin also seemed to be reliving today? He didn’t know what Changbin had said the first time/yesterday, but it seemed like Changbin had just woken up when Seungmin came by, so he couldn’t have tried to get service for a long time before that, right? And the fact that he had repeated ‘blanket’ when that was probably something that Seungmin hadn’t mentioned last time gave Minho hope. He sincerely hoped that Changbin also remembered yesterday.

“Anyway, I’ll be off filling the rest in.” Seungmin began walking towards the other rooms. “Good luck with him, Jeongin.”

Not long after, Changbin came out of his room— Minho wasn’t sure if it was the exact same time as yesterday— and stopped for a moment— something different!— when he saw Minho and Jeongin sitting with blankets. He eyed the blankets and went to sit on the other couch with his own blanket— _wait, the_ other _couch? Not next to me?_

“You’re not going to say ‘yo’?” Changbin asked, he seemed afraid, and Jeongin seemed confused.

“You’re not going to ask where the rest is?” Minho shot back, intrigued, and more hope blossoming in his chest. “And why are you sitting _there_?”

Changbin’s eyes widened until his small eyes seemed big and he gaped at Minho before he pressed his lips together, his cheeks getting a little red. Minho didn’t really didn’t understand why the smaller got embarrassed, but Minho stood up and almost yelled, “You remember yesterday too?!” 

Changbin jumped a bit— _really, was he already distracted?_ — and quickly nodded. “Yeah! You mean, like, the power outage and stuff, right? And the boom at my birthday time?”

“YES!” Minho yelled a bit too loud and saw Jeongin covering his ears. “Thank GOD I’m not crazy!” He exclaimed and pulled Changbin into a hug before he turned to Jeongin. “See? We already had this day!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof! The time loop has begun!


	2. His heartbeat was booming almost louder than the thunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, the first bang was at 08:11, Changbin time, and the second, and the last, was at 10:25, Minho time, and you two are the only ones that remember yesterday.” Jisung explained and the rest looked at each other in awe. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
> 
> “But what would it mean? What does the universe want from them?” Chan pondered, but no one came with any solid ideas.
> 
> “And is it just that Minho and Changbin both have to realize something individually and the universe didn’t feel like picking out two days to do that, or do they have to do something together?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They all talk and theorize about the time loop and Minho has trouble sleeping, but Changbin helps him

“See? We already had this day!”

Jeongin still looked hesitant and confused. “You didn’t, like, plan this or something?”

“When could we have done that then? Why would I go to Changbin early in the morning after a deafening lightning strike and plan a prank?” Minho shot back. “I mean, I could’ve, but we wouldn’t have enough time to get our story straight, and, honestly, I think Changbin would immediately forget after he slept again.”

Changbin lightly pushed him, but muttered an agreement loud enough for Jeongin to hear too. The youngest just shrugged.

“Okay, fair. I guess I believe you guys, but why don’t I and Seungmin remember?”

Minho shrugged and sat down in his spot again, while Changbin sat down on the other couch again.  _ Right, why did he do that?  _ Before Minho could ask, though, the rest came back with blankets and candles just as before, so he got distracted by analyzing their every move and expression to see if they remembered yesterday too. The confused frowns he and Changbin received didn’t give a lot of hope. 

“What are you weirdos staring at?” Hyunjin asked, raising an eyebrow before he and Seungmin went to sit on the couch that Changbin sat on, while Felix and Jisung now sat next to Minho, and Jisung in the middle this time. 

“Was there a power outage and storm yesterday too?” Minho asked the newly joined people, who already shot him more confused looks. 

“No, yesterday was sunny, and I charged my phone and all that.” Felix said, and the other’s agreed. 

“I think so too, at least, I don’t remember any power outage or storm before today.” Jeongin said before he pointed towards Minho and Changbin. “But these two claim that this day has already happened and that we’re repeating ourselves.”

“Well, not anymore now because  _ we’ve  _ done stuff differently.” Changbin added and Minho got distracted for a second by how cute he looked all wrapped up in a blanket, he guessed the fact that he could see him more clearly now was a plus of the fact that Changbin sat across from him.

“And why should we believe you and not think that you’re just pranking us?” Seungmin asked, crossing his arms.

“Because they didn’t include  _ me _ !” Jisung exclaimed. “And Minho and Changbin and I had promised each other that if we knew a good prank to pull on the rest that we would include each other!”

“But what if you saying this is part of the plan?” Hyunjin questioned and squinted at Jisung, who squinted back.

“What if  _ you  _ saying this is part of the plan?” Jisung shot back, confusing Hyunjin.

“We can prove it!” Minho said and Changbin looked like he didn’t get it. “I will set an alarm for one minute  _ before  _ another deafening lightning strike, and Changbin will do the same, and since we don’t have any service or wi-fi, there is no way that we can communicate,  _ and  _ how could we know when lightning will strike, huh? Will that convince you?”

“Right! That would prove it!” Changbin seemed excited for the plan and pulled out his phone to set an alarm while Minho did the same. 

The rest just looked at them as if they were aliens or something, which Minho understood,  _ this time _ . He kind of felt like he was having an alien experience, but at least he wasn't the only one experiencing it. Speaking of Changbin, why were only the two of them experiencing it? And more importantly, why did Changbin go sit on the  _ other  _ couch? 

"Right, Changbin, I have a question." Minho spoke up and Changbin looked a little scared.  _ Am I really that scary?  _ "Why did you go sit on that couch? Am I that bad? Or was it because of Jisung? Ah, that must've been it, it was Jisung." 

Jisung looked at him offended and gasped. "I don't know what I did, but it couldn't have been that bad. Bin is okay with me yelling in his ears." He then looked at Changbin and batted his eyelashes exaggeratedly. "Oh! Maybe it was because he couldn't keep his eyes off me and feels awkward now?" 

"No it— it wasn't because of you Jisung." Changbin shook his head, cheeks red. "Although you  _ did  _ tease me a lot, but you can do that when I sit here too, so that wasn't it." 

It was silent for a moment after that and Minho wondered whether Changbin had forgotten his question already.  _ Or does he not say anything because he doesn't want to hurt me?  _

"So what was it then?" 

"Right— uhm, I just wanted to test if anyone would notice the difference." Changbin explained. It made sense, but Minho thought it might not be the full truth, Changbin hadn't assured  _ him _ that he wasn't that bad. It kind of stung, but Minho guessed that was life. 

  
  


They then talked and joked around a bit, Minho not really paying attention because they were mostly repeating jokes from yesterday, and Minho was fruitlessly thinking about the weird situation they were in. Before he knew it, they were taken by surprise by Minho and Changbin’s alarms going off. Minho almost fell off the couch in surprise, but at least he was now prepared for the big bang that was about to come, so he covered his ears with his hands in precaution.  _ I should’ve brought my earplugs. _

“It’s  _ 10:24 _ , so in a minute another deafening lightning strike will occur?” Chan noted and looked outside, where another lightning bolt flashed. “It does seem like the storm will go on for a while.”

“Yeah, it’ll be the whole day…” Changbin sighed. “I hope it’ll be over tomorrow.”

“If we don’t experience this day  _ again. _ ” Minho grumbled, still pressing his hands against his ears.

“Don’t jinx it!—”

_ Boom!  _ Minho yelped and shrunk in on himself, squeezing his eyes shut although he knew this was the last earsplittingly loud thunder strike of the day. He still hated it. 

He felt Jisung letting go of him— he hadn’t even noticed that Jisung had grabbed him, it was lighter than Changbin had done yesterday, and yesterday Minho had grabbed onto Changbin too, but that had been calming. 

“You okay Minho?” Changbin and Jisung simultaneously asked and snorted at each other. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I knew it was coming.” He waved off, but he somehow felt warm knowing that Changbin had asked it despite knowing that Minho would say that he was fine. 

“Are there any more death scares coming today?” Hyunjin asked breathily. “I would like to be prepared.”

“No, this was the last one.” Changbin confirmed, reaching over Seungmin to pat Hyunjin comfortingly. 

“Hmm… that’s interesting…” Jisung mumbled and Minho looked at him questioningly. 

“Why?”

“Well, the first bang was at  _ 08:11, Changbin time,  _ and the second, and the  _ last _ , was at  _ 10:25, Minho time _ , and you two are the only ones that remember yesterday.” Jisung explained and the rest looked at each other in awe. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

“But what would it mean? What does the universe want from them?” Chan pondered, but no one came with any solid ideas.

“And why today? Today isn’t really a special day, it’s just a day in the middle of the break.” Seungmin added. 

“And is it just that Minho and Changbin both have to realize something individually and the universe didn’t feel like picking out two days to do that, or do they have to do something  _ together _ ?” Hyunjin brought in too. 

“And is there maybe something that triggered it? Something that you did yesterday for you, or yesterday for us?” Chan continued, and Minho’s head began spinning with all the questions. 

He and Changbin did kind of have a few moments that you might call intimate yesterday, so maybe the universe was trying to tell him that it was time to move on from his dumb crush on the younger, but he kind of needed more than one day for that, and he wasn’t even sure if that was what the universe wanted. Maybe this all was some weird dream, or he was in a coma because he was magically struck by lightning or something. 

“Minho? Can you think of anything you and Changbin did yesterday?” Felix pulled Minho out of his thoughts. “Changbin said that you sat next to each other and that we teased him more than normal, but for the rest nothing special.”

Minho shot a look at Changbin, who was already looking back, but he couldn’t decipher the look on his face, maybe it was too dark for that. Should Minho mention the marrying thing? But Changbin had said that he hadn’t  _ seriously  _ been thinking, and he hadn’t mentioned it himself so he probably didn’t want Minho to say anything either.   
  


“No, besides the teasing and sitting next to each other, nothing special happened, I think.” Minho half-lied. He would also not mention the fact that Minho had almost forced himself on Changbin when he was scared of the lightning, or that Changbin had fallen asleep on his shoulder, because even though those moments had somehow felt special, those had been consequences of sitting next to each other. 

“What were we teasing about?” Jeongin asked and Minho saw that Changbin didn’t want to talk about it. 

“I think Changbin said something while we were cooking and you exaggerated it and made a big deal out of it.” Minho shrugged. Changbin seemed surprised that Minho stood up for him and sent him a little grateful smile, which did more to Minho’s heart than he would like to admit.  _ Okay, if getting over him will make the universe happy, it’ll have to wait a damn while.  _

The rest seemed to get the message to drop it as well, so the topic strayed to more absurd suggestions and crazy ideas rather than aimlessly talking and trying to figure out what they might or might not have to do if this time loop would continue. Just like yesterday, Changbin slowly dozed off and Minho really wanted to sleep too, but again, the storm and his thoughts would most certainly not permit that. 

When he saw that Changbin’s head had fallen on Seungmin’s shoulder like it had with Minho yesterday, Minho felt a pang of jealousy in his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his head, but every time he was on the verge of falling asleep, thunder struck, or his mind would wander to Changbin and their situation again, or one of his friends playing games would accidentally yell. 

  
  


“What should we do for dinner?” Chan asked on schedule. “I’m getting kind of hungry.”

“We can’t order unless we, like, use a landline or something, but we should have enough to cook with.” Minho almost groaned and half slipped off the couch. “But I don’t wanna cook… I already did yesterday.”

“I don’t mind cooking.” Felix offered. 

“Yeah, me neither.” Chan stood up too, and shortly after, Seungmin and Hyunjin followed as well. 

“Sorry guys, without my genius ideas the food will be less amazing than yesterday.” Minho sighed.

“I’m sure you made amazing food yesterday, but we don’t remember so it only sucks for you and Bin.” Jisung patted a hand on Minho’s head. “Are you tired?”

“Yes…” Minho closed his eyes. “The storm is keeping me from sleeping a normal amount of time. But nothing we can do about it.”

“If you want to lie on the couch, I’ll leave and go annoy Changbin again or something, maybe Jeongin.” Jisung offered, and Minho nodded, sending him a thankful smile.

He laid down and tried to sleep, but the couch was just a bit too small to be completely comfortable, and it was just a bit too cold and the thunder was just a bit too loud and his thoughts were just a bit too restless for him to sleep, so he just listened to the hushed conversation the rest were having.

Despite Minho not being able to sleep, time seemed to go by fast and before he knew it, they had already eaten dinner and Minho went back to his room to try to sleep there. He put in some earplugs to diminish the sound of the storm and laid down.

After what felt like hours, but were probably minutes, of trying to sleep, Minho gave up and sat up in his bed, shooting a glare towards his window to curse the loud storm. 

He wondered what he should do when an idea popped up in his head. What if he would go to one of his friends’ rooms? Maybe then he would feel safer? Maybe then the loop would break? But the only option was to visit Changbin’s room since he had another available bed because his roommate was gone for the break just like Minho’s roommate. He could ask someone else to come to  _ his  _ room, but Minho was afraid that would be weird if the loop would continue, because then technically they wouldn’t remember coming to Minho’s room? It could also be that the loop breaks then, but Minho didn’t want to risk messing with his friends’ brains.

He eventually decided to just go to Changbin’s room because his need to sleep won over his insecurities about his feelings, and it wasn’t like he had to sleep in the same bed. That, and Changbin understood his situation the best. So he grabbed his extra blanket, slung it around his shoulders and went over to knock on Changbin’s door. 

A completely awake and lightly panting Changbin, also with a blanket around his shoulders, opened the door and looked at Minho surprised.

“Hey, what’s up? Was I exercising too loudly?”

“No, I just can’t sleep.” Minho shook his head and walked past Changbin to enter his room and sit on the other bed when the younger motioned him in. 

“Because of the storm?” Changbin asked and sat on his own bed. “Or is it because you’re overthinking the situation? Or both?”

“Both.”

“Is there anything that I can do to make it better?” The younger asked gently, and Minho felt himself relax a little at the tone. “For me it helps to exercise to clear my head, but that doesn’t help against the storm.”

“I’ve got my earplugs, which usually helps, but somehow my mind just can’t seem to settle down.” Minho shrugged and sighed as he laid down. “Sorry for bothering you with my problems, but you’re the only one with an extra bed and I thought you would understand.”

“Yeah, no, I don’t mind.” Changbin assured. “Do you want to, like, talk about it? Would that help? Or would it help better if I just blabber away and you listen to that white noise until you fall asleep?”

Minho couldn’t help but chuckle, feeling more at ease already. “That last option sounds nice, yeah. My boredom will lull me to sleep in no time I bet.” He teased but with absolutely no bite.

Changbin snorted too and began rambling about everything and nothing once he laid down in his bed too. First he went on about things he and his sister had done together and about some family drama, then he went off on a tangent about things he was scared of, which were a lot, but not necessarily thunderstorms, although loud bangs did scare him a lot. Just then, a relatively loud thunder strike sounded and Minho whimpered and hid himself a little more under the covers. He heard Changbin curse softly too.

“Are you okay, Min?” Changbin asked worriedly after a second. It sounded like he sat up in bed. “My rambling isn’t really helping, huh?”

“No.” Minho sighed as he tried to calm down from the scare. “Sorry, I’m wasting your time. You can go to sleep, I’ll manage by myself.”

He heard Changbin let out some whine that sounded like he was frustrated and Minho softly snorted. Changbin's whines always managed to make him smile. 

A short silence fell after that and Minho wondered whether Changbin had decided to sleep after all. Minho slowly emerged from under the covers and looked towards Changbin to see him still sitting up and looking back. Even in the dark, Changbin's expression looked worried yet gentle, it calmed Minho. They stared at each other for a while, waiting for the other to say something. 

"You…" Changbin began softly, barely audible over the storm. "Do you think… do you think it would help if you would lie here with me?" 

Minho imagined that any one other than him wouldn't have heard Changbin's words with earplugs in, but Minho sure did, although he was doubting if he had heard them correctly. Gosh, he wanted to cuddle with Changbin and fall asleep holding him, but not if Changbin felt obligated. 

"Would you mind?" Minho asked in return in an equally hushed voice. 

Changbin shook his head and softly chuckled. "No. In fact, I could use some extra warmth, and you know how I like hugging." 

Minho's heartbeat somehow sped up at those words and because of the anticipation, and he hoped that Changbin wouldn't notice when he would lay down close to him, because to Minho his heartbeat was booming almost louder than the thunder. 

"Okay." He slowly stood up and walked over to Changbin's bed, and Changbin scooted back to make room for Minho. Minho didn't know if he should face Changbin or not, so he hesitated for a moment as he stood in front of the bed. He eventually decided to get in facing Changbin so that he didn't crush him while getting in, and maybe later turn around if he couldn't handle facing Changbin so closely. 

When he got in and looked up right into Changbin's eyes, Minho already was on the verge of exploding, and he was lucky that it was dark or else Changbin definitely would have seen his red face. 

"Is this okay?" The younger whispered, which made Minho's resolve to turn around both waver and it solidified it. It drove him crazy to say the least. 

"Yeah, just, let me, uhm—" He was about to turn around when lightning flashed, at which he winced, and a few seconds later loud thunder sounded. Minho shrunk again and grabbed Changbin's arms, hiding his head in the other's chest and half under the covers, almost like yesterday, but now they were lying down. 

"It's okay." Changbin sounded a little unsure of himself, but nevertheless it was calming. "I'm here, you're safe." 

Minho felt a soft arm wrap around his head, and along with the blanket it helped block out the sounds of the storm almost completely, so that now the only things Minho could hear were Changbin's and his own breathing and heartbeat, and he felt incredibly safe. Minho usually didn’t like being this vulnerable in front of anyone, but right now he would do anything to sleep well, and he guessed this was a good excuse to be this close to Changbin.

"Thank you, Changbin." He whispered and slipped his arm around Changbin's side to fully hold him. He was soft, and warm, and Minho wanted to stay here forever. He was so glad that he was going through this with someone else.

Changbin hummed soothingly and Minho felt his tiredness take over. It felt like the storm had faded a little too, but maybe Minho was just too distracted by Changbin.

"Can you hum or sing to me?" Minho asked sleepily, not really thinking about what he was saying anymore, but he thought that would both soothe him and keep him from focusing on the thunder. 

"Sure." Changbin said and began humming a song Minho vaguely recognized, but before he could remember which one it was, he drifted off to dreamland. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're sweet :)


	3. Maybe there’s a traversable wormhole inside your rooms?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since this looped day had started it seemed like he and Minho had both accidentally and purposely been closer, more intimate even, but that unfortunately didn't mean that Minho had feelings for him. Changbin noticed that he was staring at Minho when the other looked back at him, so he quickly looked away, feeling his cheeks burn even more. He was afraid that Minho was looking right through him, because in the corner of his eyes he saw Minho's gaze lingering on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're going to ask Chan and Jisung for help, so don't mind me spouting some astronomy and general relativity jdsgnjf it's not important for the story don't worry!  
> Also, Changbin and Minho will have more intimate moments, enjoy!

_ Boom!  _ Changbin squeezed whatever he was holding as he started awake in surprise and felt a squeeze to his chest.  _ Oh no, not again…  _ Changbin had had hope yesterday evening because the storm had seemed to become less compared to the day before, but it also could’ve been that he noticed the storm less because of Minho in his arms—  _ Right, he’s still there. _

Changbin heard a whine and looked down to see Minho still holding him and having his head buried in his shoulder. Changbin felt that their legs were tangled too, and he thought he would melt with how warm he felt. 

“Do you want to sleep some more?” He asked the older, checking his phone to see they were indeed reliving the same day  _ again _ . “We have another hour until Seungmin comes knocking on the door.”

Minho nodded on his shoulder and chuckled a little. “Your heart is pounding like crazy, Bin.”

Changbin sucked in a breath and hoped Minho didn’t hear that with his earplugs.

“It’s because of the scare.”

Minho chuckled again, but breathier this time. “I know that, it just feels funny.”

_ Oh, of course.  _ Changbin felt embarrassed that he had defended himself now, he hoped it didn’t make Minho uncomfortable, because he did this for Minho and not himself.

A silence fell after that, and Changbin’s eyes were fluttering closed when he suddenly felt Minho gasp and tense in his arms. The older pushed himself back and looked up to Changbin with his pretty eyes.

“We can ask Chan and Jisung to help us!”

Changbin tilted his head in confusion, his brain still waking up. 

“They’re studying physics and astronomy, so maybe they know stuff about time loops? I’ve heard them talk about space-time or something.” Minho sat up and looked at Changbin intensely. “Right? They didn’t mention anything yesterday, but maybe they can do some mathy stuff and figure something out?”

Changbin sat up now too, feeling a lot more awake. “That could work! We can always try, at least.”

Minho grinned and grabbed his hand to drag him out of the bed and, after stopping to get their blankets, almost ran outside past Jeongin on the chair and to Chan and Jisung’s room. He began knocking on the door frantically until a sleepy Jisung rubbing his eyes opened the door.

“Yo—”

“What do you know about time loops?” Minho interrupted the younger. “Get Chan too!” 

Jisung raised his eyebrows slowly at the urgency and walked back in to drag Chan out of bed. 

“They’re asking what we know about time loops.” Jisung told his roommate and eyed their linked hands for a moment, after which Changbin immediately let Minho’s hand go. 

“Uhm… wow, can I, like, have a minute to think about that?” Chan mumbled and rubbed a hand over his face. “And, like, did you guys hear that boom this morning too?— what time is it by the way?— and why is it so dark in the hallway?”

“UGH!” Minho groaned in impatience. “There’s a power outage bla bla, bring your blankets and stuff to the hall because it's warmer there, and bring some breakfast and your physics books or something. Be quick.” 

Chan and Jisung looked bewildered at them and then at each other.

“I said be quick!” Minho repeated and Jisung and Chan started running around, almost bumping into each other while Minho dragged Changbin back to the common room where Jeongin and Seungmin were, now holding his wrist. 

“Hey, does anyone of you have service—”

“No, we don't, there's a power outage and it’ll keep storming for the rest of the day so get some blankets to keep yourself warm.” Minho said and turned to Changbin. “Will you go and wake up the others? Then I’ll go get some breakfast for us.”

Before Changbin could answer, Minho was already gone and Seungmin and Jeongin looked at him with questioning expressions. Changbin quickly explained about the power outage and excused himself to go wake up the rest of their friends and announce that they would meet in the common room.

  
  


When everyone was finally settled in the common room, Minho and Changbin explained their situation with proof that they would set their alarms again and they mentioned a few things that their friends had told them one of the previous times. Somehow Changbin had ended up sitting next to Minho again, but he guessed that was fine if they would talk about their time loop the whole time. 

“Now, what do you guys know about time loops?” 

“Well, I think they call them closed timelike curves among physicists and astronomers, but there might be a certain metric in which it’s possible.” Chan began. “You mean, like, without faster than light travel, right? Like not effective superluminal travel, but, like, actual.”

Changbin had a hard time following what Chan was saying, but he nodded. “I don’t think we’re going faster than the speed of light, no.”

“No, because that would be impossible.” Jisung brought in. “But it’s pretty weird that you two are the only ones that know, maybe there’s a traversable wormhole inside your rooms?”

Chan snorted, but Changbin was just very confused.

“Guys, we’re serious!” Minho exclaimed. 

“Sorry, but I think there’s a really low chance that it’s actually something physically explainable that’s causing your time loop.” Chan pondered, frowning. “Because I’m pretty sure that you need extraordinary metrics and/or speeds to get into a time loop.”

Minho groaned and Changbin whined in frustration. 

“Still, anything would help because I just want this hell to stop.” The older said, and Changbin felt his stomach churn. Was Minho having that much of a bad time?

“Okay, we’ll get thinking, then.” Jisung said and placed his notebook and textbook on the coffee table and sat down in front of it together with Chan. 

“Sorry.” Changbin mumbled softly, and Minho shot him a confused look. 

“What are you sorry for?” He asked. “I was referring to the storm and the cold when I said that I wanted the hell to stop.”

_ Right, of course, again, it’s not about you, you selfish prick!  _ Changbin felt even worse now, which he shouldn’t, but the dark and the cold and the lack of sleep and his overthinking weren’t helping his mood at all.

"I'm only  _ glad _ you're here." Minho murmured after, and Changbin almost hadn't heard. He looked to the side, but Minho's gaze was fixed on the coffee table. Changbin saw that his ears were red, and he wouldn't be surprised if his own cheeks were even more red. 

Ever since this looped day had started it seemed like he and Minho had both accidentally and purposely been closer, more intimate even, but that unfortunately didn't mean that Minho had feelings for him. Changbin noticed that he was staring at Minho when the other looked back at him, so he quickly looked away, feeling his cheeks burn even more. He was afraid that Minho was looking right through him, because in the corner of his eyes he saw Minho's gaze lingering on him. 

Changbin's heart was pounding in his ears as Minho kept looking. Did he want to convey some kind of message that staring was rude? But Changbin thought he could make out that Minho's eyes were moving a little so maybe he _ had  _ figured out Changbin's feelings, or he was trying to. Changbin slowly looked sideways again to see not an angry or focused or even blank look like he had expected, but a gentle one, mixed with an emotion Changbin couldn't quite decipher. Minho’s gaze pulled him in, lured him closer, enticed him. All thoughts in his head vanished and were replaced with just the concept of 'Minho'. 

"Bin…" Minho whispered softly. "I—" 

He was interrupted by both of their phones suddenly going off, and they both shot back.  _ Shit, it's 10:24 _ .

"Jeez— that scared me." Hyunjin breathed and looked out of the window. "So in one minute there'll be another deafening thunder strike?" 

"Y-yup." Minho nodded and put in his earplugs and put his hands over his ears in anticipation. His cheeks seemed very red, but Changbin wasn't sure in the dim lighting. 

"Do— do you want me to hold on to you?" Changbin asked, but Minho shook his head. 

"No— no, I'm fine." He awkwardly chuckled and let out a deep breath, not looking at Changbin.

Gosh, Changbin felt awkward now. What had Minho wanted to say? Had he wanted to reject him and now he’s just subtly hinting at Changbin to keep his distance? Or— no, he couldn’t have wanted to say something along the lines of a confession, right? That couldn’t be, it was probably something along the lines of ‘I don’t like it when you look at me’. 

Whatever it was, Changbin felt in doubt of what to do. On one hand he wanted to be there for Minho because the older was obviously having a hard time with the storm and sleep and all, but on the other hand Changbin thought it would be disastrous in this situation if things would get awkward between them because of his feelings for Minho, he couldn’t let that get in the way of finding a way to stop the time loop. 

Changbin barely even registered when the lightning flashed and the thunder struck, but he  _ did  _ hear Minho’s whimper and he did see him flinch and curl up on himself and he did feel bad about that. He felt bad because he had ruined his opportunity to make Minho feel safe and instead made him feel uncomfortable. 

“Wow, that lightning strike seemed to come out of nowhere?” Seungmin asked and Hyunjin nodded in agreement. “It seemed like the storm was letting up a little before, but then it suddenly returned.”

That sounded weird, because it wasn’t like that on the previous days if Changbin recalled correctly, and he imagined that Minho wouldn’t know either since they were so… occupied by each other. He looked at Minho for a second and saw him shrug at Seungmin.

Maybe because they were all acting differently, the storm was a little different too? Changbin honestly didn’t know and decided to let it go because it would only hurt his brain to think too hard. 

  
  


Chan and Jisung were working hard the whole day and groaning about doing math during their break, but for the rest nothing else interesting was happening, just the usual chatter and banter that they had seen the previous times too, with Minho and Changbin barely participating. Eventually, as expected, Chan sighed and laid down his pen.

“What should we do for dinner?” He asked on schedule. “I’m getting kind of hungry.”

“You guys have to work on the time loop stuff, so I’ll go at least.” Minho sighed and stood up. “Felix, Hyunjin, Seungmin, will you join me?” 

Changbin wanted to say something, but he guessed that Minho might want to have a break from the constant load of Changbin he was getting. He knew that he could be annoying sometimes, but in this situation and after Changbin had been staring at Minho, he especially understood it. 

  
  


They ate their dinner and Changbin didn’t know why the time seemed to go by so fast and so slow at the same time, but eventually it was already well into the evening. 

“So, have you guys found anything?” Minho asked Chan and Jisung.

The two looked at each other and Jisung signalled that Chan could talk.

“Well, we haven’t found anything solid yet, but we think we might have a metric that could allow effective superluminal travel.” Chan explained although Changbin didn’t understand. “Because we don’t think it’s traversable wormholes, right? So we thought we might need a naked singularity and so after thinking and trying different things, Jisung came with the idea of a line singularity—”

“Please get to the point, I don’t understand shit of what you’re saying.” Changbin urged. 

“Right— so, we think that with a metric that contains two of these axisymmetric wires, you might be able to create a closed timelike curve, but we still have to figure out  _ how _ .” Chan said.

“Okay, but we don’t have much time left today, how do we make sure that you guys know this tomorrow too?” Minho pondered and began walking around while thinking. “Because we’re not sure if all objects reset in the time loop too.”

“Hmm… that’s a good question too, I’m not sure whether physics allows that or not.” Jisung wondered. “But what if we try to pull an all-nighter? Stay awake the whole time?”

“Oh! That might work!” Felix exclaimed. “Because we woke up in our beds, and if we all stay here, the loop might break.”

“Hmm. We don’t want to put you guys into any danger, though.” Changbin shook his head. “We— or I’ll try it at least, because it’s a good idea, but maybe it’s dangerous for you guys.”

“But physically speaking, there are no risks, I think.” Jisung protested. “And me and Chan can work on the problem the whole night. If things start getting weird, we’ll stop and go to our rooms.”

Changbin considered the options and looked at Minho to see what he thought, but the older seemed to still be thinking about it too. 

“Okay, I guess we can try.” Minho said eventually. “But it’s everyone’s own choice, once you’re uncomfortable or you’re getting tired or shit’s getting weird, go back to your room and sleep, okay?”

The rest nodded and they all said that they would stay to see what would happen. 

“And if something happens and we  _ do  _ manage to forget everything we did today and our notes get lost, remember infinite axisymmetric wire metric and two wires, okay?” Chan said without looking up from his notes, and Changbin tried to repeat the words as many times in his head as he could, and he saw Minho write it down somewhere a few times.

After a while, Minho was sitting at the coffee table too, watching Chan and Jisung work, and the rest was conversing about conspiracy theories and trying to figure out the meaning of half of the words Chan had uttered in his explanation. 

  
  


“Hey man.” 

Changbin jumped at the sudden voice and looked to the side to see Jeongin plopping next to him. He had almost fallen asleep, he noticed, but luckily he had his friends to keep him awake.

“Hey, what’s up?”

Jeongin shrugged and eyed Minho for a second. “Nothing, I just noticed there was a vibe between you and Minho and I was wondering if you wanted to talk about it.”

Changbin let out a deep sigh and Jeongin frowned. 

“Sorry, should I go?” The younger was ready to move seats again, but Changbin stopped him.

“No, sorry— I just, the first time you guys teased me a lot, and I’m kind of overthinking everything regarding Minho.” He whispered so that Minho wouldn’t hear. 

“Why? Because he almost kissed you?” Jeongin whispered back, intrigued.

“What?!” Changbin shout-whispered and quickly looked around to see that Minho was still focusing on the two working friends. “No— no, he didn’t— it wasn’t like that.”

Jeongin tilted his head in confusion. “Then what was it like?”

Changbin pressed his lips together and averted his gaze for a moment, thinking about Jeongin’s question. It was a good one, because Changbin wasn’t sure what the answer was himself.

“Uhm, I was staring and then Minho was staring and then I stared back again and then I guess I moved closer, because, you know… and then our alarms went off.” 

Jeongin nodded slowly. “Yeah, I saw most of that. I thought it was Minho that was almost going to kiss you, but I couldn’t see his face so I don’t know.”

“Nah, he doesn’t like me.” Changbin shook his head, he wasn’t getting his hopes up like that.

“Okay, whatever you say.”

The conversation ended there, and it was slowly getting later and later and they were all getting more tired and tired, so Jisung had put on some energetic music that he had offline on his phone to keep them awake. Still, Changbin noticed that some of his friends were slowly dozing off. Mainly Jeongin and Seungmin, but Changbin’s own eyelids were growing heavy and it was getting hard keeping them open, even with the loud music playing. 

“Ugh, I’m gonna go splash some cold water over my face.” Minho yawned and stood up. Changbin thought that was a good idea, so he stood up to do the same. 

When he came back, he saw that a few others had done the same, but that Chan and Jisung were still working. 

“Ugh… My brain is fried from all the math, how do you do this, Chan?” Jisung groaned.

“I thrive at night I guess.” Chan chuckled. “I’m used to pulling all-nighters.”

“And he doesn’t even drink coffee!” Jisung exclaimed. “But I mean, how can your brain still do math?”

“Uhm… I can do anything if it’s for my friends?” Chan said as if he wasn’t sure himself.

“You’re right! We can do this!” Jisung seemed to have gained back his spirits and began staring at his paper intensely. “Oh my god I forgot a minus sign!”

Changbin snickered at the scene and felt hopeful that at least Chan and Jisung would be able to stay awake for the whole night. He hoped he could do the same, both to keep an eye on his friends and because he was curious what would happen. 

Unfortunately the cold water’s effect didn’t last for long and Changbin soon felt an overwhelming tiredness wash over him.  _ Wow… no… stay awake…  _ he rapidly blinked and rubbed his eyes and face to try to stay awake, but it didn’t help. He looked around to his friends, and saw that his friends were fighting the same tiredness, and especially Minho. 

Changbin wanted to stand up to splash his face again, but he didn’t have the energy for it anymore. The last thing crossing his mind before he fell asleep was that it would be bad if Minho fell asleep on the floor or the coffee table, and that he hoped that his friends would try to wake them up or at least bring Minho to a bed if they could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The struggles of minus signs....  
> I had a lot of fun researching time loops/closed timelike curves fjhhjn


	4. Conflicted.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Did you find something?!” Minho perked up from where he had been slumped down on the coffee table. Changbin hoped that Minho’s hopes weren’t up too high, but he guessed that his friend just wanted this to stop so badly that the chances of him getting disappointed were very high.
> 
> “Uhm…” Chan hesitated at Minho’s hopeful look and Changbin already felt the letdown coming. “We solved how you can create a closed timelike curve with a certain metric, that metric you told us about, but as we already thought, we couldn’t solve how you two got stuck in this time loop.”
> 
> Minho bit his lip and his expression turned incredibly frustrated for the fact that Minho almost never expressed this much emotion on his face. “That’s— that’s fine— we expected that, yeah.”
> 
> “Can you tell us what you’ve found? Maybe we can still get something from that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minho gets very frustrated and is Done with the time loop :(  
> a lil longer chapter!
> 
> tw for mentions of blood

_ Boom!  _ Minho yelled as he shot awake, the bang sounding a lot louder because he didn’t have his earplugs in.  _ No! Fuck!  _ Minho internally cursed as he confirmed that their plan to stay awake the whole night had failed, he didn’t even notice his aching body and throbbing head in his frustration.

“Ugh…” He groaned loudly and let his head fall on the coffee table, which was void of any books or notes or candles. He heard some shuffling behind him from Changbin on the couch, but he didn’t want to deal with anything right now. He was tired and his muscles ached from sleeping half on the floor and half on the coffee table and they were still stuck in this damned storm on this damned day.

“Are you okay, Min?” Changbin asked softly. “Do—”

“Of course I’m not okay!” Minho snapped and the younger winced. “I haven’t slept well in  _ days  _ and I’m not going to if we don’t get out of this damned loop soon and we’re not even close to getting a single  _ clue  _ of how to do that!” 

Changbin was silent, eyes cast to the ground and hands fidgeting with his blanket. Minho sighed and swallowed a lump of guilt away. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He mumbled and rubbed his face. “It’s not your fault that we’re stuck here, it could as well be mine.”

“No, we don’t know that.” The younger shook his head, but Minho waved it off.

“Whatever. I’m going to wake up Chan and Jisung to tell them about— what was it?— uhm axwhateversymmetric wire metric, and two wires.” Minho stood up and blacked out for a second, but regained himself soon. “And the closed timelike loop or whatever.”

He walked away and almost felt Changbin staring holes into his back, but he wouldn’t deal with that today, he was too damn tired for that. As he frantically knocked on the door, he thought back to Changbin staring at him after Minho had confessed that he was glad that Changbin was here with him. Minho had been afraid that Changbin had caught on to his feelings for him, so he had looked back to explain himself or figure out what the younger had been thinking, but Changbin had looked away, and somehow Minho hadn’t been able to look away, mesmerized by Changbin’s beautiful side profile and his cute cheeks and pouty lips… and then Changbin had looked back again, because Minho had probably been staring for long, but he hadn't noticed and his brain hadn't been working anymore. It really hadn't, because Minho didn't even know what he would have said if their alarms hadn't interrupted them, but he knew that it would have definitely revealed his feelings. If he would've done that and Changbin would've rejected him, that would be disastrous—

"Yo! Minho, are you with us?" Jisung pulled him out of his thoughts, waving a hand in front of his face. Chan was standing behind Jisung. "Are you okay? Why were you knocking on our door like a madman and why do you look like you didn't sleep?" 

"Uhh, right— uhm, Changbin and I are in a weird time loop or a 'closed timelike curve' if that makes you happier, but maybe it's not even physically explainable or whatever." Minho sped through his words. "But yesterday for  _ us  _ you two said that you had found a, uhm, a somethingsymmetric wire metric with two wires that might explain shit and something with naked too." 

Chan and Jisung shared a bewildered look before looking at Minho again. 

"Uhm, maybe we said something about a naked singularity?" Chan asked and Minho nodded quickly. "And uhm, axisymmetric?" 

Minho nodded again and waved his arms around. "Oh right— there's a power outage, get your blankets and books and notes and continue your research!!" He urged them and pushed them around when they seemed frozen in shock. 

Minho returned to the common room to see Changbin talking to Seungmin and Jeongin. 

"...a bit moody because he didn't sleep well, so be a little considerate, okay?" He heard Changbin say, and it did something to Minho's heart. Changbin had been  _ so  _ patient with him while Minho only had been difficult and snappy, and Minho wanted to pay him back for that somehow, but he felt  _ so  _ tired that it was hard. 

"Speak of the devil…" Seungmin said and Changbin almost jumped a one-eighty. "So you and Changbin are stuck in a time loop?" 

"Yes and we don't have any service on our phones." Minho said and he and Changbin laughed at the other two's confused expressions. 

  
  


They repeated their usual morning routine, filling everyone in and setting their alarms, hoping that this time they won't scare them. 

"Do you want to get some extra sleep? We still have more than one hour until the lightning strike." Minho was sitting next to Changbin purely so that he could offer his shoulder to sleep on, because he actually didn't really want to risk almost confessing to Changbin again, but he knew he would get jealous if Changbin would sleep on someone else,  _ and  _ he wanted to wordlessly thank him for being so sweet and patient with him. 

"Uhm, yeah that would be nice, but…" Changbin trailed off and looked at Minho hesitantly, and Minho's sleep-deprived brain wanted to kiss some confidence into him. "What about you?" 

"You're not responsible for my sleep deprivation nor are you responsible for helping me sleep." Minho dismissed all the unsaid insecurities Changbin had. "You can sleep on my shoulder if you want, it might even help me, or it might not but that's not important." 

Changbin hesitated for another second before nodding. "Okay, thank you. You can wake me up or push me off any time." He yawned and laid his head on Minho's shoulder, sharing his warmth. 

It seemed like only seconds passed before Changbin was already softly snoring and Minho was lucky that he couldn't see Changbin well, because he was sure that he would have heart palpitations or something. Minho tried to get a little sleep too, but he should've expected that the storm and his racing thoughts about Changbin wouldn't let him. 

Changbin shifted in his sleep and snuggled closer to Minho, slinging his soft arm around Minho. Minho cursed the fact that it felt so nice, that it felt so warm and comfortable. He wanted to pull Changbin even closer and hold his hands and kiss the top of his head, but he resisted because he didn't want to take advantage of the fact that Changbin was sleeping. 

Minho was slowly regretting that he had offered his shoulder, but if Changbin was happy and could sleep comfortably, he would happily struggle with his feelings. If Changbin was awake, it was something different because then he could become aware of Minho's feelings if the latter wasn't careful. 

"How's it going with the math and stuff?" Minho asked softly so he wouldn't wake up Changbin. 

Jisung looked up from his notes. "Uhm, we're trying different things, but we think Lorentz boosting the shit out of one of the wires is the way to go." 

Minho nodded as if he knew what Jisung was talking about, but it seemed like they were close to finding something maybe? Although Minho imagined that they weren't really Lorentz boosting the shit out of any wires, but still, there was a slim chance that it would give them extra insight and Chan and Jisung seemed to have fun so it couldn't hurt trying things this way. 

Minho looked at his phone to check the time and see if he could prevent any heart attacks, and saw that he was in luck, because it was  _ 10:22 _ . He thought about if he should wake Changbin up to warn him for the thunder strike, and hesitated when he remembered that Changbin had barely flinched yesterday, but decided that waking up to someone gently nudging you would be better than waking up because of a loud bang. Minho thought that Changbin might have a bad reaction to waking up to thunder as well as him. 

"Bin, wake up." He whispered and softly shook the younger, who whined and buried his head in the crook of Minho’s neck, causing heat to creep up on it. "The second thunder strike will come soon." He continued to gently shake Changbin, but still he didn't wake up.  _ Ugh, why does he have to be such a heavy sleeper?  _

Minho began softly squeezing Changbin's arms as he shook them, still not wanting to resort to more violent measures because what would've been the point of waking him up before the lightning struck then? 

Minho pushed the younger off him and it seemed like that helped, since Changbin's eyes began fluttering a little as his face scrunched up in a way that shouldn't have been as attractive as Minho found it. Minho moved his lips close to Changbin's ear to whisper, "Wake up, Bin." 

He heard Changbin suck in a breath and Minho looked to see that his eyes were finally open, but he was still looking around dazedly. 

"The second—" Minho was interrupted by their alarms going off and he jumped a little, clutching his chest in surprise. "Those freaking alarms! Why do we still use them?" 

Changbin giggled sleepily, which was unfairly cute. "You insisted on them so that you could be ready for when it comes." 

"I can also just check the time every two minutes." Minho grumbled as he put in his earplugs in preparation and covered his ears, softly counting to himself to predict when the boom would come. He felt Changbin look at him, but he ignored it, too focused on trying to keep himself calm. 

_ Boom!  _ Minho whimpered involuntarily. He had been prepared, but he still hated it, he still couldn't get used to it. His friends shot him empathetic looks, but Minho’s tired mind interpreted them as pitiful. 

“I’m fine guys, geez.” Minho sighed and removed his hands from his ears and pulled out the earplugs. “Go back to what you were doing.”

His friends murmured some apologies and returned to what they were doing or began a new conversation while Minho moved himself from the couch to the ground to watch Chan and Jisung work. Moving made him aware of how much his body ached from having slept on the floor, and looking at all the math symbols on his friends’ notes made him aware of how much his head ached too. The loss of warmth due to not having Changbin next to him made aware of how cold it was, and he already was aware of how bad he wanted this hell to stop, but now he wanted it even more. 

  
  
  


“That’s it! Jisung, you’re a genius!” Chan exclaimed suddenly, pulling Changbin out of his conversation with Felix and Hyunjin about new songs they had discovered. 

“You did all the work, though.” Jisung said despite his proud grin. 

“Did you find something?!” Minho perked up from where he had been slumped down on the coffee table. Changbin hoped that Minho’s hopes weren’t up too high, but he guessed that his friend just wanted this to stop so badly that the chances of him getting disappointed were very high.

“Uhm…” Chan hesitated at Minho’s hopeful look and Changbin already felt the letdown coming. “We solved how you can create a closed timelike curve with a certain metric, that metric you told us about, but as we already thought, we couldn’t solve how you two got stuck in this time loop.”

Minho bit his lip and his expression turned incredibly frustrated for the fact that Minho almost never expressed this much emotion on his face. “That’s— that’s fine— we expected that, yeah.”

“Can you tell us what you’ve found? Maybe we can still get something from that?” Changbin tried. He was disappointed too, but his concern for Minho was overpowering that by far. 

“Okay, uhm, Jisung do you want to explain it? I think you can do that a little more understandable.” Chan turned to Jisung next to him, who nodded.

“Uhm, yeah, so I don’t think this is how  _ you’re _ looping in time, but we’ve found that if you have these two incredibly dense infinite wires, like, as dense as black holes, and one goes super fast compared to the other, and then you go incredibly fast too and go from the region of the not-moving wire to the fast wire and then go back to the not-moving wire you can loop.” Jisung explained, moving his arms and hands around to convey what he was sketching. 

“And how would you break out of that loop?” Minho asked with the last shred of hope he had.

“Uhm… don’t go super fast?” Jisung hesitantly said. 

“UGH!” Minho groaned and let his head fall on his arms that were resting on the coffee table and Changbin winced. He saw that Minho was breathing heavily, so he crouched down next to him and placed a hand on the other’s back. 

“Don’t touch me.” Minho shook him off, his voice sounding strained as if he was holding back tears. Changbin looked at his friends and Chan mouthed at him to leave Minho be, so Changbin went back to sit on the couch and try not to worry about Minho too much. He knew that Minho was strong and that it took a  _ lot  _ to break him, but Changbin thought the same thing of himself, and if  _ he  _ was already moody and absolutely  _ done  _ with the time loop while he had slept way better than Minho in the last few days and he wasn't as scared of thunderstorms as the other, then he could imagine that Minho was at his breaking point right now. Changbin wondered if Minho was also struggling with something else like Changbin was with worrying about Minho and his feelings for him. 

  
  


After a while, he heard Minho let out a breath and saw him finally move from his frozen position on the coffee table. He rubbed his face with his hands and sighed again before standing up again. 

"Shall we get started on dinner?" He asked blankly. "I bet you're getting kind of hungry after all this math, Chan." 

Chan looked up from where he and Jisung were still trying things out in case they could find another way to get time loops. 

"Uhm, yeah, but take your time with preparing it, and you don't have to do it if you're too tired, Minho—" 

"No, I want to." Minho dismissed Chan's worry, and breathed after, "I could use some distraction." 

"I'll help!" Felix piped up immediately. 

"Great, Hyunjin, will you do your magic on the meat?" Minho asked with little vigor despite his joke. Hyunjin nodded. "And Seungmin then—" 

“I can help too if you want!” Changbin blurted out without knowing why, but somehow he felt like if he didn’t put in some effort, Minho was going to slip away from him.

Minho looked at him with a light confused frown, eyes roaming over his face for a moment. “But you hate cooking.” He deadpanned. 

_ Oh gosh, is he blocking his emotions?  _ Changbin could relate to that all too well, but that wasn't good. Hell, Changbin was already on the verge of breaking down because he had put too much focus on worrying about Minho and had blocked his own stress about the time loop. 

“Yeah! You always do everything to make sure someone else cooks for you!” Jeongin laughed, but stopped quickly. “Sorry, not a good time. Same, though, I do that too, but it's good that you want to help?— Someone else say something please.”

Changbin huffed and crossed his arms. “I just wanted to help a little, because I’m feeling so useless.” He mumbled. “Chan and Jisung have been and are still working hard, the rest is cooking, and your existence already makes us happy, Innie.”

"Well, four people cooking is already enough, we already use two of our little kitchens and three people is a little crowded." Minho said. "And no offense, but you're not the best cook." 

Changbin knew that that was true, but it still hurt a little. It felt like Minho didn't want him around even though he was moody and  _ right _ . 

"If you want to help so bad, you can go instead of me." Seungmin offered. "It's not like I'm that good at cooking." 

"Whatever, let's go." Minho sighed and they went off to gather the rice and meat and other ingredients. Then Minho began dividing the parts they had to do between the four of them. "Uhm, do you want to wash the vegetables, Bin?" 

"Sure, I can do that." 

Minho handed him some vegetables to wash and Changbin moved to the sink to do his job. It was boring and Changbin didn't like cooking at all, but he just wanted to keep an eye on Minho, mostly for himself to see how he was doing. 

"You don't have to wash them for  _ that  _ long." Minho said. He still seemed to be blocking all emotions except for annoyance. 

"Right, sorry." Changbin handed the vegetables to Minho, who started on cutting them. He also seemed to be busy stirring something in a pan and occasionally tasting it to see if it needed more seasoning, so Changbin felt like Minho was taking on more tasks than usual. 

"Can I help with cutting?" 

Minho looked at him and thought about it for a moment. “Okay, you can cut this in slices and then divide the slices in four.”

“Leave it to me!” Changbin accepted the vegetable and a cutting board from Minho and began cutting. 

Just when Changbin felt like he was on a roll with cutting, his hand twitched, making him cut his finger. “Ow! Shit—”

Minho immediately whipped his head around and approached Changbin to take his hand in his hands to inspect it. 

“Okay, your finger is still intact, luckily, but I’ll get a bandage real quick.” The older said and rushed away before Changbin could say anything.

“Sorry…” Changbin murmured when Minho put the bandage around his finger. 

“Just be careful, okay?” Minho sighed, he sounded so tired. “And the slices don’t have to be this thin when you’re going to divide them in four later.”

“Right— sorry—” Changbin nodded and wanted to begin cutting again, but Minho grabbed his wrist to stop him. He looked up at the older in confusion and saw Minho shaking his head.

“No wonder you cut yourself…” He whispered to himself and positioned himself behind Changbin, looking over his shoulder. “Don’t stretch your fingers, curl them so you can’t cut off your digits accidentally unless you’re  _ really  _ clumsy.” He explained and used his one hand to manually curl Changbin’s fingers, and moved his other hand from Changbin’s wrist to hold the top of his hand as he held the knife and it tingled everywhere he touched. “And then you just cut like… this…” He moved Changbin’s hand to show how to cut efficiently. 

Changbin felt himself get warmer and couldn’t help but notice how domestic this felt, and he had to force himself to pay attention so Minho wouldn’t have to reprimand him any further, because the only thing his brain was providing were all the marriage scenarios that he had thought of a few days ago. He felt conflicted because on one hand it felt like Minho was mad at him, done with him, but on the other hand it felt like he cared enough and still had enough patience to show Changbin how it was done.

“Okay, do you think— Oh shit—” Minho was cut off by the sound of the lid of a pan rattling and Minho rushed to the stove to take off the lid to stop it from boiling over. His ears seemed red, but that was probably from standing over the stove the whole time. “Can you hurry up the cutting? I want to put it in the pan soon.” 

“On it!” 

Changbin ended up almost cutting himself again, but he pretended that never happened, and his cutting job was sloppy to say the least, but at least it was done, he guessed. Minho didn’t look all too happy with it, but he left the comments on it at a deep sigh and a chuckle only. 

The rest of the time Changbin just watched and checked on Felix and Hyunjin to ask if they needed any help, which they didn’t, so he went back to Minho. He seemed to be in deep thought as he was stirring the pan, but Changbin didn’t feel the need to ask because the older was probably already annoyed enough with him and he was probably thinking about solutions to the time loop, but Changbin didn’t want to talk about that. One, because Changbin knew they wouldn’t get any further, and two, because Changbin thought that in this mood they would probably fight. Minho probably thought the same because he didn’t say anything out loud. 

When Hyunjin and Felix joined them with their pans and Minho finished adding it and doing the finishing touches, Changbin offered to carry the heavy pan so he felt like he would be a little more useful. 

“Oh my— Bin! At least put on some oven mitts!” Minho gasped and grabbed Changbin’s arms to stop him before Felix handed him the oven mitts. “Jeez, you really want to hurt yourself don’t you?"

“I knew that I had to use oven mitts.” Changbin chuckled awkwardly before he lifted the pan and started walking. “At least I  _ do  _ know how to carry something heavy—” He was cut off when his foot hooked on the doorstep out of the room and sent him tripping and tumbling to the floor. He tried to save the pan with food as best as he could, but that meant that he had to sacrifice the part where he saved himself from falling right on his face as he had his arms occupied. Along with him falling on the floor, he heard the lid of the pan clatter.

“Changbin! Are you okay?” Felix and Hyunjin rushed to his side and helped him sit up, and Changbin saw that unfortunately some of the pan’s contents had been spilt on the floor. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, but the food…” Changbin said despite feeling his face and ribs hurt, and he saw Minho come into his field of vision with cloths to clean up the mess.

“Don’t lie, Bin, your nose is bleeding.” Minho glared at him and Changbin felt his nose to indeed feel blood, but at least it wasn’t flowing.

“I’ll get something for that!” Felix said and stood up, but Changbin barely noticed it, being distracted by Minho’s angry look. 

“This is why I didn’t want you to come help…” He sighed irritatedly as he wiped the floor.

“Well I’m sorry that I just wanted to help!” Changbin defended himself, feeling hurt. “And I’ll clean my own mess up—”

“Don’t bother, you’ve already done enough.” Minho grumbled, not even looking at him. “And why did you even insist on helping so much? You don’t even  _ like  _ cooking and I had to help you with everything so that you didn’t hurt yourself and now you’ve spilt part of the food so I wouldn’t even  _ call  _ it helping.”

“I couldn’t know that I would trip!” Changbin exclaimed, feeling frustrated as he scrambled up and ignored his aching ribs. “I just wanted to  _ help _ —”

“ _ Why? _ ” Minho snapped at him and stood up as well. “No one was asking you to help! You  _ knew  _ Seungmin could’ve done it just as well— no, even better than you, and now you were only in the way.”

Changbin’s heart was pounding and his mind was racing in anger and in the need to defend himself. “I just wanted to make sure that you were okay! And I wanted to show that I’m there for you!”

“And have you ever thought about the fact that I might want some freaking space?!” Minho exclaimed. “That it would help if you just let me do my own thing without forcing yourself into every situation?! That I don’t want to be reminded of our situation by seeing your face every damn second?!” 

Changbin flinched and he heard Hyunjin and Felix, who was just returning with some toilet paper to clean the blood, gasp at the harsh words. 

“You can also just say you hate me.” Changbin spat back, he was done with trying to be decent now, and he didn’t want to show how much Minho’s words affected him. 

Minho’s eyes widened in shock and wavered before he pressed his lips together in frustration and frowned. “You know what? I can’t deal with this right now.” Minho threw the cleaning cloths down. “I’m  _ fucking  _ done with all this shit and I  _ don’t  _ need to have to deal with  _ you _ on top of that. You clean up the rest or whatever, and you guys can eat without me, I’m not hungry anymore.” He turned around and stomped to his room before slamming the door shut. 

Changbin winced at the sound and noticed that the rest of his friends were there as well, probably worried about the yelling. Felix slowly came up to him to hand him the toilet paper and Changbin accepted it with a grumble before crouching down to clean up the rest of the spilt food. He both felt like crying and yelling and punching stuff at the same time. 

* * *

Minho slammed the door behind him, sagged down on the bed and broke down crying, hiding his head in his pillow to muffle the sounds so that his friends wouldn’t hear. He was just so tired and frustrated, and Changbin thought that he hated him while the opposite was actually true, but he couldn’t just  _ say  _ that. He didn’t mean to snap at the younger but he was tired and annoyed and grumpy and Changbin was just there being his cute but sometimes frustrating self and Minho just didn’t want to deal with his feelings on top of all the other stress too, and Changbin was making that damn hard being his clumsy self, it just gave his brain more reasons to be annoyed.

Minho didn’t want to think about what he had done right now and just let himself cry it out, crawling under his blankets to keep himself warm, and he slowly felt himself fall asleep, not even bothered by the storm anymore, only by guilt. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no :///  
> (don't worry, the next chapter will be cleansing :))


	5. I would gladly do it again with you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hmm..?” Changbin hummed as he sleepily opened the door and he jumped a bit in shock when he saw Minho. “Minho?”
> 
> “Can we talk?” Minho asked softly, hoping he would convey his regret. “I want to apologize.”
> 
> “Oh, uhm…” Changbin rubbed his eyes a little and it shouldn’t be as cute as it was. Minho couldn’t comprehend what his past self had thought when he insulted Changbin, it felt like it had been someone else and if he could kick he past self, he would have.
> 
> “Yeah, sure, come in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will get happy again :) and we have a bonus were I go off with sappiness jdkgnfkjn enjoy!

_ Boom!  _ Minho jolted awake, feeling completely disoriented and confused.  _ What time is it? Oh _ —  _ of course…  _ Minho let out a deep sigh, but at least he had slept for the whole night and he felt a little rested for once. 

He slowly got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to splash his face with the cold water. He froze mid-splash when he remembered what had happened yesterday evening, and his stomach dropped.  _ Shit, I really hurt Changbin, didn’t I? Gosh, you’re an asshole, Minho. What the hell were you thinking?!  _ He silently cursed at himself and quickly changed his clothes before he went outside to knock on Changbin’s door. 

He sincerely hoped that the younger would even want to talk to him and that he wasn’t waking him up, but Minho wanted to apologize as soon as possible because he felt horrible about what he had done. And maybe he should be honest about his feelings too, because trying to hide them while they were in this time loop was  _ not  _ working well for him, so maybe telling Changbin was the best option and then Changbin could decide for himself what he wanted to do with it. 

“Hmm..?” Changbin hummed as he sleepily opened the door and he jumped a bit in shock when he saw Minho. “Minho?”

“Can we talk?” Minho asked softly, hoping he would convey his regret. “I want to apologize.”

“Oh, uhm…” Changbin rubbed his eyes a little and it shouldn’t be as cute as it was. Minho couldn’t comprehend what his past self had thought when he insulted Changbin, it felt like it had been someone else and if he could kick his past self, he would have.

“Yeah, sure, come in.” Changbin motioned Minho in and sat on his own bed as Minho sat on the other. 

“Okay, so, first of all, I  _ don’t  _ hate you.” Minho began with clearing that up, he didn’t want Changbin to think that. He let out a breath before he continued, he always had a hard time talking about his feelings but it was necessary now. There was no room to be vague. “I never have, not when you dropped the food, not when you cut yourself, not when you offered to help, never, and I don’t think I ever will. I really regret what I said to you.” 

In the dark it was hard to see, but it looked like Changbin was blushing. 

“Really?” The younger asked. “You don’t have to lie, I just want you to be honest with me, however harsh the truth is. And I’m sorry too, for not noticing that you wanted some space, because it’s completely valid that you wanted that.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Bin. If I needed some space I could’ve just told you. And I’m really telling the truth.” Minho said urgently, he hoped it came through to the other. “I know that I’m bad at expressing my feelings and apparently I’m even worse than I thought because I made you think that I hated you, but I don’t. I really don’t.”

He saw Changbin looking at his hands, lightly nodding, and Minho let out a breath before he continued. “I was just really irritated yesterday and I know that’s not an excuse, because you had good intentions and it wasn’t your fault that you tripped or cut yourself, but…” He paused for a moment, looking at Changbin. “I guess you affect me more than I thought.”

Changbin looked up with a confused look. “Huh? What do you mean?” 

“Uhm…” Minho sighed shakily and looked away from the other’s intense look. “I didn’t need space from you because I think you’re annoying, because you’re not, and it wasn’t completely true that I didn’t want you to help because you remind me of the fact that we’re in a time loop. There was something else as well.” 

Changbin looked at him with big eyes in anticipation and Minho guessed he couldn’t go back anymore. It was because he so desperately wanted to hide his feelings that he had hurt Changbin, and he didn’t want to do that ever again. 

He took a deep breath before blurting his confession out.

“I have feelings for you, Changbin.” He said, looking down. “I didn’t want to tell you because who knows how long we’ll still be in this loop, but I tried so hard to hide my feelings and that stressed me out, which I guess contributed to me snapping, so I thought I should be honest, because I guess I wanted to hide my feelings so badly that I ended up acting like I didn’t even like you.”

It remained silent, and Minho slowly looked up to see Changbin gaping at him with an open mouth. “Are you pranking me, Minho?”

“No, of course not!” Minho gasped. “I’m not a monster!”

“Sorry— I just— I just didn’t expect it.” Changbin stuttered and Minho was sure that his cheeks were red. “Because I really thought that you would never like me in that way.”

“You’re really going to make me spell it all out, huh?” Minho chuckled, feeling relieved now that he had let it out, and walked over to crouch in front of Changbin and gently hold his hand. It was hard, he wasn’t used to it, but he would gladly voice his feelings ten times if that was what it took for Changbin to believe it. “I’m not joking, I  _ actually  _ have feelings for you, for your clumsy, dependent, and pouty but kind, cute, caring and funny self.” 

Minho expected Changbin to maybe let go of his hand in disgust, but instead he squeaked and hid his face with his other hand in embarrassment. 

“But wait—” Minho froze, realizing what Changbin had said. “You said that you thought about me liking you?”

“Yeah, you were the one I was thinking about cooking for me every day…” Changbin softly admitted and Minho began laughing. “So, yeah, I have thought about you liking me a  _ lot _ .”

“Me? Really?” Minho felt another load fall off his shoulders, making him feel light and free. Changbin liked him back? “And you really didn’t notice that I almost kissed you yesterday— no, the day before?”

“It  _ was  _ you?” Changbin gasped and laughed awkwardly, revealing his face to rub his neck a little. “I thought it was me, but Jeongin thought it was you as well.”

Minho chuckled as well and shook his head while he intertwined his fingers with Changbin’s, feeling nothing but comfortable and warm for the first time in a while. “Maybe it was both, but I even was on the verge of spilling my feelings if the alarms hadn’t gone off.” 

Changbin giggled softly and smiled with a warm look. “I guess I’m a bit dense.”

“Me too.” Minho chuckled, feeling all too fond for his friend, and his breath hitched when Changbin looked back at him with slightly hooded eyes. 

“I forgive you by the way.” The younger murmured, moving a little closer. 

Minho smiled and raised his free hand to cup the other’s soft cheek and whispered, “Can I kiss you for real now, Bin?”

Changbin nodded and surged in to kiss Minho instead, and Minho couldn’t help but smile into the kiss before kissing back and letting himself get immersed in the feeling. His crouching position was a little uncomfortable, so Minho pulled back shortly to climb on Changbin’s lap and pull him into another kiss with both hands on his cheeks. Changbin’s lips moving over his felt even better than the countless times that Minho had imagined it and if there wasn’t a thing such as having the need to breathe, Minho imagined he could do this for minutes on end, maybe even hours. 

When they eventually pulled back with a sigh, it felt like the room was lighter than it had been before, both literally and figuratively. Minho looked at the window to see sun rays peeking through the curtains.  _ Huh?  _ He didn’t hear any rain or thunder anymore either, so he stood up to open the curtains and was surprised by the sun just coming up from behind the horizon.  _ Since when..? _

“Bin..?” He trailed off, looking at him in awe while Changbin mirrored his expression. “Did we do it?”

Changbin jumped up from his bed and joined Minho at the window, looking between him and outside. “We broke the loop by kissing..? I can’t believe we’re in a romantic comedy!”

Minho laughed and lightly pushed the other, but he guessed that Changbin was right. Maybe the universe had been done with the two of them avoiding their feelings, and maybe it was a coincidence, but Minho honestly didn’t really care. The time loop was almost certainly broken and Minho and Changbin had confronted their feelings about each other and Minho had finally slept well and everything had worked out fine. It wouldn’t even be that bad if the time loop would continue without the storm, Minho thought, as long as he had Changbin with him he thought he could handle it.

He took Changbin in his arms and gently swayed them as they looked at the sunrise, taking in everything that had happened and relishing in each other’s warmth. They were pulled out of their moment by a few knocks on the door. They looked at each other for a second before Minho let Changbin go to open the door.

Seungmin peeked his head through the door and gave them a confused look before asking, “Hey, does anyone of you have service?”

  
  
  


_ Bonus _

  
  
  


“Hey, Bin.” 

Changbin looked around to see Minho leaning against the doorway suggestively. “Do you want to come help me cook? As a reward you’ll get half of the food you made.”

Changbin groaned and slumped on his chair a little. “Do I have to? Yesterday you made me food without me having to help.”

“It wasn’t a request.” Minho deadpanned and walked over to pull him up. “You’re helping me or you’re not getting any food.”

Changbin whined and let himself fall back so that Minho was holding him up by pulling his arm, making Minho laugh. 

“I told you that if you would marry me I would force you to learn how to cook.” The older grinned at him.

“We’re not even married, we’ve only been dating for a few days.” Changbin protested, cheeks red, and Minho only laughed. “And I thought I was only in the way when I help you cook.”

“Only when I don’t want you to help because I’m dead tired.” Minho smiled cheekily and dragged Changbin to the kitchen. “You can wash and cut the vegetables again, since I hope you know a little how to do that now.”

Changbin huffed and pouted, but he was okay with cooking if it eased the load on Minho a little, so he began washing the vegetables as Minho taught him. When he started on cutting them, he felt Minho pull him into a back hug and place his chin on his shoulder.

“Look at you cutting the vegetables without hurting yourself.” He cooed and placed a kiss on Changbin’s cheek, making them heat up. “I’m so proud of you.” 

Changbin spluttered a little in embarrassment and his cutting got sloppier when Minho began placing kisses all over his cheek and down to his jaw up until he reached his neck and shoulder. Changbin shivered under the touches despite them feeling warm.

“Minho, I can’t cut like this!” He giggled, making Minho only squeeze him tighter and leave some more kisses.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to help you then.” He whispered into Changbin’s ear and grabbed his hands to do the cutting for him while he was pressed against the other and cheek to cheek. 

Changbin couldn’t help but feel giddy and warm like this, and it was a win-win for both of them, because they got to do this together, so Minho was happy, but Changbin still didn’t  _ really  _ have to do anything so he was happy too (not that he wouldn’t be happy if he did have to cut the vegetables). 

When Minho was done helping Changbin cut the vegetables, he didn’t let go and guided Changbin towards the pan to put in the vegetables, stir the food for a bit, and place the lid on it. Then Minho turned him around in his arms and smiled widely. 

"Well done Binnie!" He beamed and Changbin couldn't help but smile back just as brightly despite knowing that he hadn't really done anything and Minho was just joking. But in the past few days Changbin had learned that that was Minho’s way of showing his love. He knew that Minho didn’t mind that Changbin didn’t like cooking that much and that he was clumsy and sometimes a little dependent in some areas, in fact, Minho only found it cute and apparently Minho gladly helped Changbin to show how much he cared. Acts of service were Minho’s love language and it fit perfectly with himself, Changbin thought. 

"I think I deserve a reward for working so hard." Changbin grinned and draped his arms around the other's shoulders to pull himself up and capture Minho's lips. 

"Definitely." Minho murmured against his lips, and they both chuckled into the kiss before slowly melting in each other's arms. 

Changbin yelped a little and hooked his legs around the older when Minho lifted him up, not breaking the kiss. He felt himself being placed on the counter and he tangled his fingers into Minho's hair, making the older sigh against his lips. Changbin did the same when he felt Minho's hands roam over his sides and his belly and he couldn't help but smile knowing how much Minho loved touching his arms and belly. 

Just when Minho was about to deepen their kiss, they heard the lid of the pan rattle to signal that it was boiling over. They were startled out of their moment, but they laughed at the situation as Minho unfortunately untangled himself from Changbin to tend to their food. Changbin only watched fondly. 

  
  


The food tasted, as expected, amazing and as they heard rain softly tick against the windows, Minho was reminded of their looped day. It seemed both so long ago and like yesterday. Their friends were  _ so  _ confused when they suddenly saw Minho give Changbin a kiss on the cheek, because they had thought that it would be funny to not tell them and let them find out on their own. They still didn't fully believe their time loop story now because they didn't have a lightning strike that they could predict anymore, but Jisung had said that he thought it might take a time loop and a breakdown for them to confess to each other, with which the rest had agreed. That, and Jisung and Chan had been impressed with their knowledge about closed timelike curves and such. Thinking about it, Minho thought he wouldn't mind being stuck in another time loop with Changbin, even if it would storm, because he knew the younger would be there for him and that their feelings wouldn’t be in the way anymore. Hell, he was even grateful for the experience in hindsight because it made them confront their feelings, and the end result felt amazing.

"What are you smiling about?" Changbin asked as he grabbed their plates to throw them in the sink. 

"Just about the time loop." Minho shrugged and stood up to grab Changbin's hands and pull him closer. 

Changbin gasped softly and looked up at him with a questioning expression. He stumbled a little over his feet as Minho pulled him along, dancing over the floor of his room. 

"I just feel like dancing." Minho smiled and intertwined their fingers of one hand as he placed the other on Changbin's hip. It was cute how Changbin just followed his lead clumsily and Minho was glad that they could do this right before the classes would start again and their roommates would return. 

He twirled Changbin around and dipped him low, so low that Changbin clinged to him for support and yelped. Minho chuckled and closed the gap between them in a soft and short but sweet kiss, feeling Changbin's hands grip on him even harder, which made butterflies flutter in Minho's stomach. He pulled back and admired the sight of Changbin in his arms for a moment, and he would've stayed like that for many more minutes if Changbin didn't whimper softly and asked him to pull him back up again. 

Then Changbin pulled him closer and rested his head on Minho's shoulder so that they were slow-dancing without music. 

"What were you thinking about regarding the time loop?" He asked softly, breath fanning on Minho’s neck. 

"Just about how our friends don't really believe us and stuff." Minho shrugged a bit, his legs feeling a little weak, but in a good way. "And that… all in all it wasn't that bad…" He paused for a moment to caress the younger's back, before he whispered, "And I would gladly do it again with you." 

He heard Changbin smile and sigh contently. "Me too." 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and I appreciate all kudos and comments so leave with what you thought if you want! <3

**Author's Note:**

> If you want, you can find me on [Tumblr](https://kokoskwark.tumblr.com/)  
> And on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/kokoskwark?s=09)


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